'Transracial' man born white feels like he is Filipino

TAMPA, Fla. -- Riding in a flamboyant purple vehicle, Ja Du shows up to a coffee shop to open up about his new identity.

Ja Du, born a white male named Adam, now considers himself Filipino. Turns out, the purple ride he drives around in is called a Tuk Tuk, an Asian-derived vehicle used for public transit in the Philippines he says.

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Ja Du is part of a small, but growing community of people who considers themselves transracial. It refers to someone born as one race, but identifies as another.

Sounds weird? Not to them. Ja Du says he grew up enjoying Filipino food, events and the overall culture.

“Whenever I’m around the music, around the food, I feel like I’m in my own skin,” he said.

“I’d watch the History Channel sometimes for hours, you know, whenever it came to that and, you know, nothing else intrigued me more but things about Filipino culture.”

If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, you might remember the story of Rachel Dolezal. Dolezal was born white, but identified as black and portrayed herself as such. She was even the president of the Spokane, WA chapter of the NAACP.

After she appeared on an episode of the TV show Dr. Phil, the term transracial started to become more widely known. Now, we are finding out this community of people who identify as another race is growing.

If you look on Facebook, where we found Ja Du, groups dubbed transracial are popping up with dozens of members.